Harry POtter and the Murderer's Diary
by DuckySocks
Summary: It's Harry, Hermione, and Ron's 6th year at Hogwarts and a crime has been committed. Can they figure it out before someone else does? Rated PG-13 for suggested nudity later on.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:  I own nothing besides the plot and my original characters.

Dear Diary,

            I have succeeded.  At last, my hatred can rest in peace because the object of my fury has left this earth.  It was a beautiful scheme and it was executed with absolute perfection.  Nobody will ever suspect me and therefore I will never be caught.

~~~~

            Harry Potter plopped down at the Gryffindor table next to his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  It was a bright Sunday morning at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the entire Gryffindor table was still carrying an air of victorious content.  The previous day the Gryffindor Quidditch team won an exhausting game against Slytherin, their archrivals.  It was the longest game at Hogwarts in a century and it was the most grueling match Harry had ever played.

"How are you feeling?" asked Hermione.

"Much better," Harry replied.

"Well you should," said Ron.  "You only went to bed before dinner and slept through the whole night!"

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he took a sip of his orange juice.

Suddenly, Madame Pince, the school librarian, quickly walked through the doors of the Great Hall.  There was a deafening silence as everyone saw the panicked expression on her face.  

The crowded room remained silent as Madame Pince walked up to Professor Dumbledore, the wise Headmaster of Hogwarts.  She whispered something in his ear and his face turned a ghostly white.

"Attention all students and teachers," Dumbledore said quite calmly despite the shocked expression on his face.  "Prefects, escort the students to their respective dormitories, and teachers, come with me."

Everyone started chattering all at once, wondering what in the world was going on.  No one could recall seeing Dumbledore so upset before.  After Hermione, a Gryffindor prefect, lead all of the Gryffindors to their common room, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the students waited apprehensively for any news.  Finally, Professor McGonagall came into their common room.

"I am sorry to inform you that I have terrible news," McGonagall said gravely.  "Cho Chang has been found dead in the library.  She is believed to have died at dusk yesterday during dinner.  One of the bookcases fell on top of her.  We believe that it was a most unfortunate accident.  For those who are unfamiliar with the other students in this school, Miss Chang was Head Girl and both Captain and Seeker for Ravenclaw's Quidditch team.  She will be greatly missed."

Everyone sat in denial of what they had just heard as McGonagall left.  Sobs filled the room as the realization hit.  Cho was a pretty girl with few enemies.  Everyone was emotionally crushed by her death.  Perhaps the most upset of all the students was Dean Thomas, her boyfriend.  Dean was a sixth year Gryffindor like Harry and Ron.  The usually tough, unemotional boy was hysterically weeping.

Several hours later, most of the Gryffindors left the common room.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in three oversized armchairs in front of the fire in silence.

"You know, I was wondering," Hermione stated.  "How do you accidentally knock over a bookcase?"

"I don't know, beats me," said Ron.  "Hey, wouldn't we have heard the bookcase falling at dinner?"

"I'm not sure.  The Great Hall is pretty close to the library," Hermione pointed out.  "I just think its weird that nobody heard anything."

"Well, maybe it wasn't an accident," Ron suggested.  "Maybe she was murdered."

"Yes, that makes sense!  They could have used a Silencing Charm to hide the sound of the falling bookcase."

"But who would do something like that?"

"Harry, what do you think?"

Harry had been staring into the fire.  The announcement of Cho's death had clearly upset him.  He had had a crush on her since the third year.

"I don't know," Harry said, clearly distracted.  "Maybe we should go to Dumbledore and tell him what we think."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off to Dumbledore's office.  They stopped as the neared the gargoyle guarding the hidden entrance, realizing that they did not know the password.

"Well, now what do we do?" Ron questioned.

"Figure out the password of course!" Hermione pointed out.

"Well, its almost always a sweet," Harry recalled.

"Well, let's get started!" Ron said.  "How about…Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!"

The statue stayed stationary.

"Chocolate Frogs!"

The gargoyle stayed put.

"Sugar Quills!"

"Lollypops!"

"Canary Creams!"

"Fudge!"

"Scrumdiddleyumpcious Bar!"

They continued on like this for over an hour before Harry got it.

"Pumpkin Pie!"

The statue all of a sudden started to twist up, revealing a spiral staircase.  All three Gryffindors ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione said loudly.  "Professor?  Are you there?"

Suddenly they heard a large thump and Dumbledore's head appeared from behind his desk.  He muttered something that sounded an awful lot like "Ouch!" and rubbed his head.

"Professor?  We'd like to talk to you," said Hermione.

"Yes, that's what I assumed you were here to do," replied the Headmaster.

"We've been thinking about Cho's death," explained Hermione.  "It doesn't seem logical for it to have been an accident.  We were thinking that someone might have possibly killed her.  We think it would be a good idea for you to take another look in the library to find any evidence that may be there."

"That does make a lot of sense.  However, your professors and I have already looked at this from every possible angle and we don't think that is what happened.  If you three want to take a look in there, that's alright with me.  I'll tell Madame Pince to allow you to come in."

"Thank you, Professor.  We most definitely will," Harry told him.  Harry turned around and walked out of Dumbledore's office while Ron and Hermione followed.  "When do you want to take a look at the library?"

"How about tomorrow?" Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, I'm beat!" Ron added.

R and R please!!!! Flames welcome!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Dear Diary,

She has been discovered.  The teachers seem to think it was an accident, so must of the students think so too.  Even I didn't believe they were so stupid.  I have even managed to fool Dumbledore!  I am afraid that some of the students are not as gullible.  They are the ones I am going to have to watch out for.

~~~~

The next day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione found Madame Pince and she let them into the library.  When they walked into the library, they couldn't help but notice that one of the large, heavy, mahogany bookcases had fallen in the far corner.  They walked over to the fallen bookcase.  The floor was cluttered with books.  Ron picked up one of the large, dusty volumes.

"Wonderful, the History of Magic section!" he groaned as he threw it back down.  Dust flew everywhere, causing the three to sneeze.

Harry, Ron and Hermione started the long, dull search under what seemed to be endless plies of dusty books for any clues.  Many tissue boxes later, they still had not found any promising clues.

"This is hopeless!" Ron exclaimed as he dropped a particularly boring book called "Demons! Demons! Demons!"

"Maybe we should look for clues in other parts of the library," suggested Hermione as she sneezed once more.

"Sounds good to me," said Ron.

"You two go ahead," said Harry.  "I can keep looking here."

"Ok," said Ron.  "As long as I don't have to look here anymore, it's fine with me."

So Ron and Hermione looked around the other sections of the library.  Harry continued to search through the multitude of books, this time looking more at the books themselves than underneath them.

"I think I found something!" shouted Hermione.  Harry and Ron rushed over to her.  "It's Cho's wand!"

"Look at that!" exclaimed Ron.  "Bloody murder!"  The other two stared at his like he was crazy.  "What?  It's just an expression!"

"Well, this rules out suicide," said Hermione.  "She couldn't have done the Silencing Charm herself if her wand was halfway across the room."

"Then somebody must have killed her," said Harry, pointing out the obvious.

"But who?" asked Ron.  "And why?"

"I don't know," said Hermione softly.  The words were foreign to her lips.

"Who was missing from dinner Saturday night?" asked Harry.  "I wasn't there because I was sleeping."

"Cho was gone," said Ron.

"Well of course!" exclaimed Hermione.  "We all know that!"

"Neville and Dean were the only other Gryffindors missing that night," said Ron, blushing slightly.  "I personally would rule out Neville as a suspect though."

"Yeah, I agree.  I think he lost his wand.  I remember he was looking for it the whole day.  He couldn't have done the spell without his wand."

"Oh," Ron thought out loud with his eyes downcast.  "I was thinking more along the lines of his inability to do spells, especially difficult charms."

"You both have a point," Harry understood.  "It's pretty safe to eliminate him.  On the other hand, Dean would definitely have a motive.  Jealousy and love can get out of hand."  Hermione and Ron silently nodded their heads in agreement.  "Was anybody else missing?"

"I don't remember seeing Francine," said Hermione.  Francine Smollett was a brainy Hufflepuff seventh year.

"Me neither," recalled Ron.  "She could have done it easily.  She's so smart that Silencing Charms must be a breeze."

"What about a motive?"

"She could have done it to become Head Girl," said Harry.

"Right," agreed Ron.  "I think I remember someone else who wasn't at dinner.  Alexandria Wilcox wasn't there."

"Alexandria?" asked Hermione.  "Isn't she a chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team?"

"That's right, she is," said Harry.  "She's a talented player too."  Harry paused.  "She might have killed Cho to become Quidditch Captain of the Ravenclaw team.  Is that everyone who was gone?"

Hermione and Ron sat trying to remember.  A minute or so later, Ron jumped up and practically screamed, "THAT BRAINLESS IDIOT DID IT!"   The other two looked at him blankly.

"I take it that you remember someone else," responded Harry.

"NO KIDDING!" yelled Ron.

"Well, can you tell us who?"

"THAT BLOODY GIT DRACO MALFOY!"  

Hermione gasped.  "Surely you don't think he definitely did it?" she said.  "There are a lot of other suspects that could have done it.  Why do you think he would kill her anyway?"

"Quidditch," simply stated Harry.  "Draco plays seeker for Slytherin.  Cho used to play seeker for Ravenclaw.  He might have gotten rid of her to decrease the competition.  He's also Captain of the Slytherin team.  Getting rid of Ravenclaw's Captain would also weaken their team."

"Well, that may be true, but I don't think we should jump to conclusions.  Every suspect seems to have a good motive."

"Fine," said Ron.

"It's starting to get late," said Hermione.  "Perhaps we should get to bed and think about this overnight.  Then tomorrow we can interrogate our suspects."

Ron and Harry thought that was a good idea too.  The three students walked to their dormitories, pondering the mysterious events that had happened over the past few days.


	3. Chapter 3

Dear Diary,

All has gone well.  I have been doing an excellent job of laying low and trying to throw suspicion off myself.  All I need to do to get away with this crime is to keep on doing that and hope nobody believes that I am capable of doing something so evil.

~~~~

The next day, Hermione, Harry, and Ron wasted no time getting down to business.

"Alright, so our suspects are Draco Malfoy, Francine Smollett, Dean Thomas, and Alexandria Wilcox," stated Hermione. "Who do you think we should investigate first?"

          "I'm not sure," said Ron.

          "Alexandria is at Quidditch practice right now, so she's not available," said Harry.  "Dean is so much in shock that he probably doesn't even remember his name, let alone what happened Saturday night."

          "How about Francine?" suggested Hermione. "I can ask her to talk to us after the Emergency Prefect Meeting today."

          "Alright," said Ron.  "Harry and I will meet you after your meeting."

          "OK, that sounds good.  See you later!"

          During the meeting, Ron and Harry passed the time playing chess in the Gryffindor common room.  There was little else to do, since the week's classes had been canceled.  Ron won most of the games easily against Harry, whose mind seemed to be elsewhere.  

          Soon it became time to meet the girls.  Ron and Harry rushed off to meet Hermione and a blonde-haired girl who were waiting for them.

          "Sorry we're a bit late," apologized Harry.

          "It's quite alright," reassured Francine.  Francine was a typical hardworking, fair Hufflepuff.  An intellectual, her deep, brown eyes had many bags from studying into the wee hours of the morning.  

          "Let's get down to business," said Hermione.  "We wanted to talk to you because we remember that you were not at dinner the other night at the time of Cho's death.  Would you mind telling us where you were and what you were doing?"

          "Of course not," said Francine. "I was in the library studying for my N.E.W.T.S. of course! They are coming up in a month or two you know.  Therefore, I was sitting studying at my favorite table, when one of the Gryffindor sixth year boys, Dean Thomas I think, came bursting in.  I thought it was somewhat strange to see him in the library, for I had never seen him before. He seemed like he was looking for something or someone.

          "Then Cho came in and the two of them started to argue.  I could tell it was going to be a pretty nasty argument and I did not want to invade their privacy. Besides, I would never be able to concentrate with all of the yelling.  I gathered my things and left the library.  I went to the Hufflepuff common room and continued reading there in the peace and quiet until the end of dinner."

          "I see," said Hermione solemnly.

          "Did anyone see you leave the library?" asked Harry.

          "Not that I know of," Francine recalled. "I was trying not to disturb Cho and Dean in my way out of the library and I didn't see anyone on the way to my common room."  

          There was a pause as the students reflected on what had just been said.  "I think that's enough information," stated Ron at last.

          "Yes, I agree." said Hermione. "Thank you for your time Francine and congratulations on being named the new Head Girl."

          "Thank you," said Francine. "I've always wanted to be Head Girl.  When I was a little girl, I often would pretend I was.  I was very disappointed when I had not been selected.  Now I get to be Head Girl after all.  It's most unfortunate that it had to happen like this."  Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded in agreement.  

          "I'll see you around," said Francine, picking up a backpack full of books. "I have a lot of work to do.  If you want to talk to me again I will probably be in the library."

          "We'll be sure to take you up on that offer," said Harry.

          "Thanks for your time," said Hermione.

          "Oh you're welcome," said Francine as she walked out. "I'm glad to be of any help at all."

***AN*** Hi! I would like to think all of my three reviewers so far! You guys are awesome! I write for all of you!

**inu lover**- Thank you! I don't think my story is all that great, but we are all entitled to our own opinions. Please tell me how you like this chapter!

**Crackers and Zuzu**- Thanks, you guys! I'm dreadfully sorry for not updating, but I have been very busy lately! 

**Mystery303**- I'm glad that I've added some mystery to your life. Yes, Ginny might have a motive because of her jealousy.  However, you are going to have to wait and see who it is.  Patience is a blessed virtue.

I would also like to encourage all of you who read my little story to review it.  Tell me what you think, your suspicions, corrections, and even your hate messages.  The only way I can improve my writing is through feedback.

I am also considering totally revamping my story.  I'd make it longer, add more details, develop new characters better, and add more elements.  Please tell me what you think about that also. Thank you so much for reading!  Peas click the little button on the lower left side of your screen and review, review, REVIEW!!!!!


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